A retro-style neighborhood café-restaurant near the Place de la Bastille. There are two next door to each other, same food, different décor. I ate here in May with the ladies (Carolyn and Brenna) after checking out the café’s new lingerie boutique across the street (with the original name of L’Industrie Lingerie). There are two well-separated rooms for smoking and non-smoking, so there’s no drifting smell of smoke while you eat. I liked my Supreme de Courgette à la Ricotte (zucchini and ricotta cheese) starter, but the snails must have been marinating in the same thing as those mushrooms at Chartier, and I only could manage to swallow two before I gave up. The ladies went with the carpaccio salad, which came with green salad and roasted potatoes, no complaints there. BTW, you get 5% off at the lingerie boutique if you eat at the café!

Article originally appeared on The only authentic insider guide to Paris. (http://www.secretsofparis.com/).